Heading back to Rurrenabaque

Last morning on the pampas. No storm during the night so we all slept well. Or maybe it was because of us spending all our energy fighting the mud yesterday. Or alcohol. Who knows. The alligators were still fighting each other on the river bank this morning. Still fun to look at.

Mikkel and the guide spotted a couple of dolphins swimming past the lodge upstream. Good indication on where to head after the breakfast. So we went - upstream and found the dolphins swimming back and forth the same stretch of river where we caught piranhas yesterday afternoon.

No alligators in sight on the banks Roger, the Australian - jumped into the brown water only to discover that the river was around 1,50 meter deep. Jes followed shortly after and the rest of us watched from the boat. Quite funny to see them jump a bit every time a fish "explored" their feet. The Swiss guy was the last to jump in. Then we could see the dolphins swimming back and forth not really getting close to the three guys in the water.

Apparently something else decided to come close to Rogers feet because we've never expected to see a 130 kg guy jump out the water and into the boat. No toes missing Jes and the Swiss guy decided to follow Rogers example and get out of the water.

Then we headed back to the lodge, had lunch, packed up and headed downstream. Our trusty Land Cruiser was waiting for us and the three hour drive back to Rurrenabaque. We had booked the same hostel as last time, so we knew the pool was waiting for us. Possibly with a cold beer. What a relief.

In the evening we met up with the Swiss guys from our trip and went for dinner. Fish curry cooked in banana leaf. Delicious.

Tomorrow we are heading back to La Paz with Crash-air. Fingers stay crossed all night.

Two beautiful people posing at the lodge

Our room

Boots from yesterday

Ready to go looking for dolphins

Danish bacon going into brown river water in Bolivia

Human bait X 3

Looking hungry

Relaxing while the others are swimming

Last -gator picture - PROMISE

Hanging out at the lodge

Heading back to Rurrenabaque

Our trusty Toyota Land Cruiser

Back in Rurre

Totally true

Party at the pool

Rurre night life

Looking for big snakes - and fishing for sharp teeth

A big thunderstorm hit the area in the middle of the night. First the flashes lit up the sky, later came thunder, rain and lots of wind. Staying in houses mainly constructed from wood and palm tree leaves meant that it felt pretty close to us. Nothing happened though but the show was impressive.

Waking up at the lodge in the early morning gave the opportunity to watch and admire the alligators on the banks of the river below our board walk. They would float around in the water trying to sneak in on competing alligators and suddenly they would fight - one of them loosing and having to flee. And then also listen to the cacophony of the birds singing in the morning each trying to overdo the other.

We had breakfast and were given rubber boots. We were going out in the fields to look for animals particularly anacondas. The fields turned out to be very muddy after last nights rain. In fact they turned out to be more like a flooded swamp. Given the limited supply of big rubber boots our new Australian friend - Roger - decided to wear only his hiking shoes. Big mistake. He was the first to get stuck in mud and loose his shoe. And then get reunited with the lump of mud that was now his shoe.

Our guide found the smallest possible Anaconda for us after a few minutes. It was trying to swallow a fish three times the size of its mouth. They start early. We hiked on in search of a bigger snakes most of us trying to maintain balance. Suddenly Malene lost balance and soon after Jes. Being a bit soaked and very muddy is apparently a guarantee when hiking the pampas.

Suddenly there was a big splash since our guide had disturbed a big alligator and it was now all over the place twisting its body and tail violently. Everybody ran for their life - mud not being an issue.

We did a big detour around the alligator not to disturb it and then headed further into the swap still looking for a big anaconda. After some three hours and our guide being all over the place we returned home not having found it. Muddy and with tired legs.

After lunch it was time for a short siesta. We had spent a lot of time looking for snakes and we still had to head up river this afternoon to fish for piranhas and catfish. We sailed a bit up the river and our guide found a place that wasn't too crowded with alligators where some of us could fish from the boat and others from the bank of the river.

We got fishing lines and hooks and the most important - meat. And then we realised how quickly meat disappears in a muddy river in South America. You just felt a little pull in your fishing line and by the time you recovered the hook the meat was gone. And so it went on for some time. We did catch some fish, many of them being too small to keep so they got back in the water.

Mikkel caught one that was just big enough for dinner so it was kept together with a few others. Not the biggest meal tonight we expect. We headed back to the sunset place and watched another Pampas sunset before dinner and heading to bed. Long day and tired legs.    

Alligator guarding its place on the river

Morning view from the lodge

Ready for the pampas

Mud+shoe+stuck=not good

Flooded muddy pampas

Small but hungry anaconda

Pampas chic

Getting deeper

Mud, water and where is the next alligator

Storch

Angry alligator bubbling from its nose

More bubbles - time to leave

Nothing to see here

Back in the camp

Fishing for piranhas

Caught one - too small

Just big enough for dinner

No fish and no bait

Back at the lodge

Another pampas sunset